Linux Doom 3 Client Released

CrusadeR writes "id Software has released the Linux client/server binaries for Doom 3. An installation/FAQ page has been setup; there's also a torrent tracker for the various files."

Comments

Bad news ahead

[ricotest]

I think it pretty much exemplifies how hard Linux gaming is to set up, when you have an entire Wiki engine set up for one FAQ.

I'd guess it'll be the same as my experiences - a variety of minor problems depending on what hardware you have, in particular ATI users getting shafted.

In fact: "Currently, the game will not run correctly on ATI cards using the fglrx driver. However, the ATI developers are working on new driver releases, and eventually the game will be supported." but DRI drivers might work, and either way the future looks promising.

Also 5.1 surround support isn't currently available. Depressing, but hopefully set to improve :)

Re:Bad news ahead

[Dalcius]

"I think it pretty much exemplifies how hard Linux gaming is to set up, when you have an entire Wiki engine set up for one FAQ."

Anyone remember spending hours upon hours hacking at DOS configs to get your old games to load just right?

Give things time. Once some of the APIs and components stabilize and mature I think we'll start to see a lot more games for Linux.

Cheers

Re:Bad news ahead

[Apreche]

this looks pretty tame to me actually. You run one command and copy a few files from the real cd. In a few days I'm sure that in gentoo at least you will be able to do

emerge doom3

and

emerge doom3-demo

The reason they have stuff like this is because of the heterogenous nature of linux systems. There is bound to be someone out there for whom the install isn't a piece of cake. And for those special cases they need the wiki. Most people will install this very easily and make it go.

From my experience the people who have problems will be the same people who have problems with their linux systems. Smart users with good working systems, i.e: 3d and sound already work correctly and software is updated to newer versions, will have no trouble.

Re:Performance?

[Kalak]

Comparing specs:
GNU/Linux system,
Pentium III, 1Ghz
256Mb RAM

English version of Microsoft® Windows® 2000/XP
Pentium® IV 1.5 GHz or Athlon® XP 1500+ processor or higher
384MB RAM

Sounds like Linux is supposed to perform on less. Since I'm on the low end w/ 256MB RAM (I know it's cheap, etc. but I'm still working on money for the game) and a Athlon XP 2000+, I'll have to see if I get better framerates w/ Linux than Windows. It might me help my buy it sooner if I can skip the RAM. Demo benchmarking time!

Re:Performance?

[jfedor]

I'm getting ~55 FPS in timedemo demo1 on Linux (Fedora Core 1), compared to ~60 FPS on Windows XP on the same machine.

(GeForce 6800, Athlon XP 3000+, 512 MB RAM, 1024x768, high quality, no AA, NVIDIA drivers version 1.0-6111 on Linux, 66.81 on Windows)

-jfedor

Re:just gave it a go

[imr]

The game wants to run as root to install in /usr/local, if you decline and installs in /home or wherever you have rights to, it is fine.
About the home install btw, i have symlinked the needed pak*.pak from a windows dual boot install in the base directory and it works fine.
I have also tried to symlink the whole base directory (with unpacked files that one), after having saved the original linux one of course, and it worked fine too.
I didnt test much as i am transcoding some file and my PC got a little bitchoppy, but appart from localisation (as said on the wiki) it ran fine.
Thx Mr Besset.